Can you make money with affiliate marketing without followers?

That being said, you don't need a huge following to make money—you just need to reach the right audience. Lots of affiliate marketers make their income entirely through social media.

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If you’ve ever bought something an influencer recommended online, you’ve come across an affiliate marketing business. Online creators often build partnerships with brands to promote its products and services. In return, they earn a commission for each sale. Affiliate marketing is a growing industry. According to Statista, affiliate marketing spend is set to reach $8.2 billion during 2022 in the US alone.

However, the problem for many beginner affiliate marketers is the upfront costs, including buying a domain name, ecommerce hosting, courses, books, etc. So, the question is: Can you start for free?

The answer is yes. This guide will help you understand how to make money online with affiliate marketing (without upfront costs) and give you a step-by-step tutorial on how to get started.

How does affiliate marketing work?

Affiliate marketing is the process of earning commission from recommending a product or service offered by another business. As a business model, it’s highly profitable because the business pays you for every referred sale. Not all affiliate programs are the same though. Some will pay different percentages of commission, others will offer a fixed bonus, and some will offer free products or services in return. With time and hard work, successful affiliate marketing can turn your side hustle into a profitable business venture.

Why is affiliate marketing a good business model?

At this point, you might be thinking, “A business built on recommendations? Sounds too good to be true.” While it’s good to have a healthy dose of skepticism, according to PayScale, the average affiliate marketer in the US makes around $52,000 a year. Not bad for recommending products, right? It’s possible to make a living from affiliate marketing because it’s a profitable business model. Here’s why: It’s low risk. Businesses only need to pay out when you make a successful referral (versus paying a fee for influencers). For affiliates, your costs can stay low (if there are any at all), so you only lose time if you don’t hit the right mark. It’s a win-win for everyone. The business benefits from the sales you bring in, and then rewards you in return. However, customers also benefit from having a trusted recommendation to satisfy their needs/wants. You can work from anywhere in the world. If you’ve ever dreamed of living the digital nomad life, affiliate marketing can help you call anywhere your workplace. Though be sure to obey any work-related tax or labor laws. You can build a passive income. Creating a library of quality content takes time. But after a while, you’ll find that content you’ve already created still generates affiliate commissions months, even years, later. “Affiliate marketing, especially when you’re a beginner with no startup money, takes long-term thinking,” says Vivian Tejeda, writer and affiliate marketer. “First you need to focus on the fundamentals, like deciding on a niche and traffic source.” According to Vivian, there are many free platforms for creators to consider when starting out as affiliate marketers. “Instagram, TikTik, YouTube, blogging—you can create an account for free on these platforms and start creating content right away.” Affiliate networks offer new marketers free and easy access to thousands of reputable affiliate programs you can join right away.

How to start affiliate marketing with no money

The journey to becoming an affiliate marketer can seem daunting at first. But if you break it down into smaller steps, achieving your goals becomes a lot easier.

1. Find a niche

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The best way to succeed in affiliate marketing is by establishing yourself within a niche. A niche is the topic you’ll become an authority on. Some of the best niches include

Hobbies : travel, photography, golfing, outdoors

: travel, photography, golfing, outdoors Money: bitcoin, personal finance, credit cards, investing

bitcoin, personal finance, credit cards, investing Health: fitness, nutrition, vegan, weight loss, yoga

fitness, nutrition, vegan, weight loss, yoga Lifestyle: luxury, airlines, fashion, jewelry

luxury, airlines, fashion, jewelry Home: baby products, dogs, plants, security

baby products, dogs, plants, security Tech: web hosting, VPN, gaming, software

web hosting, VPN, gaming, software Alternative: personal development, marijuana and CBD, herbal remedies The reason you need a niche is that if you recommend lots of different types of products, people won’t see you as the expert they can trust. Whereas if you only recommend a specific type of product and create content about it, then people can see you have experience in that area. It also helps you further down the line with search engine optimization (SEO) on social media and your affiliate website if you choose to build one later.

So how do you choose your niche?

You want to start with niches that have a high chance of profitability. For example, our research* found that business-related programs have some of the highest commissions, while clothing or books and media have some of the lowest: However, these aren’t your only options, and some niches work better than others on particular platforms. Keep in mind that affiliate marketing isn’t “get rich quick.” You’ll need to have at least some personal interest in your niche to keep you going.

Ask yourself the following questions to narrow down your options:

Are you curious to learn more about your niche? Keeping up with trends and industry news in your area is super important in making sure you stay relevant for your audience. Do you already have experience or training in a specialized area? If you’re already knowledgeable on a subject, you can flatten your learning curve and get ahead more easily. Is it possible to create content without upfront investment? Some niches like technology or travel can involve a lot of upfront costs if you don’t already have the equipment or content to start with. Is it profitable? Ultimately, you want to make money. So if your niche is either too broad, so you end up with too much competition, or too narrow, so you don’t have enough people interested in it, you’ll risk not making a profit. Choosing a niche is a fine balance, and it can take some time and practice to hit the right spot—so don’t be put off if you don’t see success right away.

2. Choose an affiliate program

Once you’ve decided on a niche, the next step is choosing what affiliate program(s) to join. It makes sense to choose a program or affiliate products that align with your niche. For example, lots of YouTube channels promote Virtual Private Network (VPN) services so their audience can watch them anywhere in the world. A more specific example would be vegan fitness and lifestyle educator Derek Simnett, who is an affiliate for VIVO Life supplements. There are two ways of finding suitable affiliate programs within your niche: direct and through marketplaces. If you’re already aware of brands in your niche that have affiliate marketing programs, you can approach them directly and sign up for them (affiliate programs are usually free to sign up for), as Derek did with VIVO Life. The other option is to join an affiliate program marketplace or network where you can browse thousands of programs and sign up to them through the marketplace.

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Affiliate networks, such as the following, offer thousands of merchants in various niches: While these are all reputable options, some things to consider when choosing an affiliate program include not just its reputation, but also its commission rate and earnings per click (EPC) rate. A program might have a low commission rate but a high EPC, which means it can still be a worthwhile program to join.

3. Decide on a traffic source

At this point, you’ll need to start thinking about your traffic source.

People often make the mistake of thinking you must become a blogger with a dedicated website (which costs money). Though it is helpful to have one later when you feel able to reinvest in your business and scale upward, it’s not essential. You can start generating affiliate income using other (free) traffic sources, such as social media platforms, YouTube, and forum-based sites like Reddit and Quora. Let’s look at a few advantages and disadvantages of each channel: Pros: The largest social media platform around. You can reach a big audience.

Cons: Less attractive to younger audiences. Bad organic reach.

Pros: Highly visual, excellent for showcasing products and services. Strong emphasis on video content like Reels and Stories.

Cons: Lower organic reach for feed posts.

YouTube

Pros: Great for search engine optimization. Global audience of over two billion people. Cons: A lot of competition in most niches. Videos need to be professional and high quality.

TikTok

Pros: Short video clips that don’t require a “professional” look and feel. More personal and authentic experiences. Trends start on TikTok.

Cons: Links in descriptions are not clickable.

Pros: Excellent organic reach. Established platform for professionals.

Cons: Predominantly for B2B audiences.

You might be thinking, “But I don’t have a social media following! How will I make money?” If you don’t have a following, now is your chance to start building one. That being said, you don’t need a huge following to make money—you just need to reach the right audience. Lots of affiliate marketers make their income entirely through social media. A great example would be Papery Thoughts, a YouTube channel (among other social media accounts) that creates YouTube videos about journaling. The channel generates affiliate sales through links to products in the video description that the creator uses onscreen. Other ways of using social media include joining Facebook groups in your niche and answering questions, or stitching replies to relevant TikTok videos in your industry. The key to building an audience is participation, not just spamming people with affiliate offers.

4. Create content to build trust

No matter which platform(s) you decide to use for affiliate marketing efforts, the next step is to start creating content that builds trust with your target audience. In 2020, internet users worldwide spent, on average, 145 minutes per day on social media. What keeps us online for over two hours a day? Great content.

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